EtherCAT Questions

Hello,

1) if I have understood correctly, the EtherCAT master App only supports 64 slaves, is that correct and if so, is there any plan to increase the number of possible slaves?

2) Furthermore, a customer is currently using cable redundancy everywhere, but want to switch to HotConnect in the instruments in the future.
Do we have any plans to implement one of the two features or in the future?

3) Beckhoff EL7031 and EL7041 terminals are being used at a customer today. Will we offer something similar, or will we be able to control the Beckhoff terminals via EtherCat Master using the CORE?

4) Will the ctrlX core get more interfaces e.g. for an EtherCat master as well as an EtherCat slave?

Thanks!

Hello redford,

regarding your questions, here are the answers.

1) Yes it is correct, actually we support only 64 devices. We plan to increase the number of supported in upcoming versions.

2) Today we don't support both and they are not scheduled. It is possible to add those featuers by software update. In case of redundancy an external device might be aditional necessary.

3) We haven't tested both devices yet, but basic EtherCAT communication should be possible. Regarding "Will we offer something similar", I will ask the experts and they will answer in a separate answer.

4) Yes, the ctrlX COREplus, will have an additional communication interfaces, e.g. for an EtherCAT slave. An aditional master port is basically possible but not scheduled.

If you have further question or concrete project requirements feel free to ask!

Best regards,

Julien